Letters to my Grandchild

Hello my darling, Sometimes - not every often - your Mom asks us to fetch you from school.  On Wednesday Gumpie and I fetched you from school and you asked if we could go to the Fig Tree Coffee Shop at the church in Anthony road.  Its a lovely coffee shop with a children's play area.  I have been there with you and Mom so know that you are allowed to play there but Gumpie nearly had a heart attack!  You climbed through the tunnels, followed other children up the ladder to the top of the slide, went over, under and around the big foam blocks.  Eventually Gumpie begged me to take you home!  Your Mom came soon afterwards and I took Gumpie home. We went to your school assembly at the end of term.  Its lovely to see you with all the other children, singing loudly and doing all the actions on stage! Your class won the trophy for the most newspapers collected and... guess what... you won the trophy for the most individual newspaper collec...

Hello my darling Em, August was a busy month - it was my 70th birthday on 6th August and I had a High Tea at home which went off exactly as I hoped it would.  Some of our oldest friends were there, like Barbara and Charles Mason.  Gumpy and Charles worked together in 1961 and I first met them 50 years ago.  Charles was our groomsman at our wedding.  He is the tall man on the right with my friend Colleen who was my bridesmaid.  We still keep in touch. Three people in this photograph have passed away.  Brian was Gumpy's bestman, Patty was my Matron of Honour and her daughter, Caroline, was our flower girl.  They have all passed on.  You have met the other two people - Gumpy's cousins Anthony and Carol who now live in Australia. Do you recognize our page boy, the little boy next to Gumpy?  Believe it or not that is Uncle Jeff!  My brother was 10 years old (not much older than you are now) when we got married. Jenny, Marion, Barbara ...

Hello darling Emily - my BFF - my princess - special child - light of my life! On the 8th July 2008 I posted on your Blog a picture of the first doll I bought for you.  This is what I wrote:   I tried to feel you kick the other night but you were tired and although Tammy could feel you moving, I couldn't feel anything.    I am writing to tell you that I bought you a rag doll yesterday. Now, this might not seem like much but if is a first for me. I only had boy babies, so even though I bought Teddies and other toys, I've never bought Dollies before! It was quite exciting buying a doll. She is a sweet little rag doll with yellow hair and a cute dress. I made sure that I bought one with no buttons for eyes and no hard or loose bits that a baby can pull off or chew.  When you visited the other day we decided to have a 9 year birthday party for Raggedy.  We both dressed up and we had cold drinks and biscuits.  You shared yours with Raggedy. ...

 Hello my princess Emily! My lost suitcase finally arrived and I was able to give you the presents I bought for you in Spain - a picture book about Santiago de Compostela, a Camino t-shirt and two party dresses. You are learning how to play chess so I bought you a small chess set to practise with.  You played with Gumpy at our house using the 'Magic Table' chess board and you did really well. You are also doing pottery and this is a bunny that you made for your Aunt Candice. Jeff and Richard came to stay for a weekend to watch the rugby.   You were there to meet them at the airport. Jeff took the family out to dinner   At the rugby you got an autograph from the TV Sports presenter  After rugby we had a braai at our place. Gumpy and I went to your school sports day.  You took part in the star event.  Your house won!  We are planning a sl...